The Devil's Game
by The Can-Can group
Summary: It started off as any other case for Sakura and Syaoran, however they are going to learn that the cause of the mysterious deaths is that of a game where the winner survives and the loser dies... Another one DISCONTINUED!


Disclaimie:

Don't own…

A/n: This is going to be a two or three part one-shot (which totally defeats the purpose) mostly b/c its been taking me long enough all ready to get it all put down, not too mention I'm tired of letting it gather dust on my desk top (irony right there…). Also, this is going to be done in 1st POV and all of it is in Sakura's.

There will be some innuendo's that might make you gag (or laugh, pending on who you are) and the overall theme is a bit mature in the violence sense (not too mention the unnecessary sarcasm), however, I personally think that PG-13 is a good enough rating for this story, if you think otherwise, please do tell me so that I can bump it up a bit if I have to.

Also, this story runs parallel to the manga version (to a certain point).

On with the story…

The Devil's Game

Part 1: The Start

Plot by: The Can-Can group

If there was one thing I have ever learned while being on the police force, it's that the bad guys will always get their "just desserts." Of course, I'm not the one who nabs them; I'm the one who does all the filing. When I first joined, I was just out of the Academy, ready to get to work on the whole entire "police beat." Unfortunately, when opportunity came a knocking, I totally froze up. The gunman shot my partner and I let him get away. In the end, my partner had to go onto life support for a few days and spent the next three months healing. The criminal was apprehended after they found him sleeping in his car. That wasn't the only time I screwed up. I kept on arresting innocent people and letting the criminals get away.

So, here I am now, at the young and tender age of 28, filing files like some kind of secretary.

"So, how's the filing business doing?" asked Li Syaoran, a cop of Chinese descent.

"Just shut up and die," I glared back to him.

He grinned as he rocked on the back of his heels, hands in his pockets. Li is one of those guys who is cocky, has good looks (and knows it), and when handed a gun, can be dangerous. His chestnut hair is normally messy (which, somehow, adds to his image, making him really lucky with the ladies (although, he doesn't really date anyone)). Where as his amber eyes seem harden from all the violence that he has to deal with when working out on the streets.

"I'll try to do that when my schedule allows it," he shot back.

I cracked my knuckles. "I can clear your schedule up for you."

He just laughed. Damn him. "No thanks," Li said. "Has there been anything new for me today?"

I nodded. "The boss asked for you…"

He paled instantly and asked, "Did he say what is it he wants?"

I shrugged. "All he said was for you to go to his office when you get the chance."

Li, the big chicken, started to "cough." "I uh… just came down with something, I'd better go home before I spread it."

I can understand why Li is doing this. When the chief asks for you, it's generally not a good thing. The last time he asked for someone, that person got fired. It's a well-known fact around the office that he fires someone at least once a week. However, I'm not entirely sympathetic towards Li, especially since he keeps on making fun of me. "If you leave, the process is just going to be even more humiliating. Just think about that as you leave."

He had his back turned from me, but I could tell that his eye was twitching.

After a few moments of debating, he slowly turned around and sighed dejectedly. "I think I'd rather make it quiet."

"That's the smartest thing you have ever said," I replied.

He glared.

I smiled.

He sighed.

I grinned.

He left.

I laughed.

Or at least until a person from the dry cleaners came into the office asking for me, which was odd since I have never been to the dry cleaners in my life. After the man left, I looked at the tag on the topmost plastic covered outfit. It had the chief's name written on it.

"I'll kill him!" I yelled as I left the desk

I ran to the chief's office. Bumping into people, running into desks carts, doors, etc. I finally found the familiar oak door with an opaque window with the black lettering with his name on it. I barged in. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not your stupid secretary! Stop sending your dry cleaning to me!"

The chief just stared at me in a disbelieve sort of way.

"Wow Kinomoto, any louder and people from America could hear you." Li commented from the faux leather chair he was sitting from.

"I can make myself so loud that people from Pluto can hear me." I retorted.

The chief coughed. "Please sit." He gestured to the other chair in front of his large pine desk.

I sat down and waited for him to talk. The chief is a large man (in the width sense) who eats way too many donuts and is starting to go bald. He's shorter then me (and I'm really short) and has a temper that's even shorter. After a moment, he coughed again and began to stroke his mustache (a sign of nervousness). Finally he spoke, "I want the two of you to work on the case that I had just finished telling Li here."

The both of us stared in awe at the stocky man.

Silence.

Then a loud explosion coming from the both of us, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN 'BOTH OF US'!" Li was the one to shout.

"THAT IS THE MOST IDIOTIC THING YOU COULD POSSIBLY DO! WE'LL KILL EACH OTHER BEFORE WE FIGURE OUT WHO DUNNIT!" I yelled.

The chief just sat there and sighed as we started to yell and cuss at him and at each other. After a few moments of listening to us yell, he finally said in a quiet, dangerous voice that is used to threaten other people, "If the two of you don't work on this case I'll fire Kinomoto (Li cheered at that) and demote you to secretary."

We both calmed after that. After a few more moments of weighing the options, we nodded.

The chief instantly smiled. "That's a good thing to hear, now why don't the two of you run along now. Li, tell her about the case and Kinomoto, you can have your old office."

I nearly cheered at that, I missed my small office; it had a nice window and a small desk. While we were walking out, chief called out, "by the way, this is your last chance Kinomoto." I gulped at that.

The two of us left the chief's office, nether one of us saying a word, mostly because of boiling fury and being trapped in our thoughts about the situation. Me, I'm somewhat happy about this, I get to be on the police beat again, something that I have been dreaming about for a while now.

We stopped at Li's office door (which, coincidently is right next to mine…) and entered. Li immediately went to his desk and sat down in his chair. I sat across from him.

"Here's the file," he said to me as he handed the manila folder. I looked opened it up. Six pictures fell out. I looked at them, curiosity getting the better of me. They were pictures of peoples' backs and they seemed to have some sort of tattoo on them. I started to flip through the pictures. "They look like tarot cards." Li nodded.

The "tarot cards" tattoos, as I have come to name them, had a picture of something, like one with a child on fire with wings, and a name both in English and Chinese. I looked at the victims' description that was paper clipped to each photo. Not even one of them has any relation to any other one of them. The only thing they have in common is the tarot card tattoo on their backs.

"This is going to be on of those weird cases were we have to deal with a crazed psychopathic killer, isn't it?" I asked my new partner.

Li nodded solemnly.

I sighed. "That means I should go find some Life Insurance."

"'Fraid so."

"Great, just great." I got up. "I'm going to go and get me some doughnuts."

He nodded as if he didn't care (I know that he does, all cops love doughnuts…).

I left.

…………………………………

Okay, so today started off all right, I got my job back, my office, and now I'm at bakery/ café eating my weight in donuts. "Damn, now I'm going to have to start exercising again." I muttered as I read the newspaper that I had picked from the newsstand outside of the station. Of course, instead of reading the front page like most adults do, I went immediately to the comics and horoscope section all the while laughing my ass off at _Zits_.

"May I join you?" A delicate sounding voice asked.

I looked up to see my best friend and second cousin, Daidoji Tomoyo. Tomoyo is like a renaissance woman, she can sing, she has her own line of designs that are famous, plus she has made three award-winning movies. When we were younger, her mother had her keep her hair long because it reminded her of my mother (my aunt and my mother were very close, it was a tragedy for Tomoyo's mother when mine died of some disease) and Tomoyo being the person that she is complied. Her hair is still long, about to her butt; she normally puts it up in ponytails and braids. Her amethyst eyes are always having a reigning kindness shinning from them.

I nodded.

Tomoyo sat down across from me. She eyed the donuts, deciding if she wanted one or not.

"It's just going to ruin your figure," I said.

She gave something short of a glare. "You fight dirty you know."

I just grinned.

"So, how's everything been going?" she asked after a few moments.

"Well, I finally got my old job back." I replied.

Tomoyo smiled brightly. "That's great news! I know how much you wanted your job back."

I sighed. "Unfortunately, Li is my partner on this new case that had just came in."

"You poor baby."

Tomoyo and I have been best friends since I met in elementary school. I was the tomboy. She was the girly-girl who liked to dress me up in the weirdest outfits and costumes. We told each other our deepest secrets and fears. We told each other of our heart brakes with guys (mostly Tomoyo though) and problems with our home life. She was the one who comforted me when I had got demoted to filing person. And I was the one to comfort her when her first business went bankrupt.

"Was that sarcasm that I dually noted?" I asked.

She shrugged, a small playing across her face, showing yes, she was being sarcastic.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh gee thanks for being totally sympathetic towards me and my new situation."

"Your welcome." This is one of those rare times when I wanted to strangle her.

My cell phone rang suddenly. Stupid invention, interrupting my breakfast, who ever came up with the idea should have died a slow and painful death. Stupid me for actually buying one… "Hello?" I asked after pressing the "TALK" button.

"We need to interview some people about the murders." Li's voice rang out of the earpiece.

"Hello to you too. I can't I'm here with Tomoyo," I replied, somewhat happy that I can use my friend as an excuse to not work.

Tomoyo got up. "Actually I need to get going, I'll see you later Sakura." She left the table, leaving me here by my lonesome.

I sighed. "I'll be there in a few moments."

……………………………………..

Li and I walked out into the parking lot. I instantly spotted my bright red Volvo sitting there shinning like there's no tomorrow. I got into the driver's seat and Li got into the passengers. He scooted the chair all the way back in order to fit his long legs. I turned it on and left the parking lot. "Why the heck do you have such a sissy car?" Li asked as he banged on the air conditioning console in order to get the cold air to come out.

"It's a sissy car that's built like a tank." I replied as I grinned. "So, who are we visiting first?"

Li opened the folder and looked at some of the papers that it contained. "We're visiting a Miss Aya Keiko."

"Were does she live?"

"It doesn't say, however, it does say were she works."

"And where is that?" I asked with my patients wearing very thin at that moment.

"The Red light district."

I nearly choked on the saliva in my mouth. I could tell it's going to be one of those days.

……………………….

I parked the Volvo beside a curb that has lots a cracks in it. I followed Li, wondering how the heck does he know how to find his way to the Red light district. He stopped at a corner that was occupied with another woman. "Are you Aya Keiko?" he asked the woman.

The woman nodded. "Yeah, what of it? If you're looking for something, I only do regular customers, no newbies." I could tell that Aya is a prostitute, and not just by the dialog, it's the outfit, bright pink tank top that would fit an anorexic (and she's no anorexic…) person with a low scoop neckline that threatened to spill her breasts. Her neon mini-skirt was so short that she didn't even need to bend over and you can still see her butt. Not to mention, her hair was an unnatural colored blond that looked like it was dyed, badly. Her make up was bright and loud and the cigarette hanging out of the corners of her mouth didn't help the image much either…

"I'm not here for whatever it is you have to offer," Li replied, playing dumb at what Aya is hinting very loudly at. "I'm here to talk about Uo Tenaki, can you tell as about the last time you saw him, alive?"

"About three days prior to the killin', that little crack head was acting all nervous about something, saying that he needs to find a safe house or some crazy shit like that. When I asked him if the police found him out, he didn't say nothin' about it. I keep telling him to not sell crack to the kiddies, but he ain't ever going to listen to me." She replied.

"How long have you known him?" I asked, kind of wanting to get into the conversation.

"Since we were twelve when he was kicked out of his house for doing stuff he shouldn't have done with several other women." She replied with a tone of indifference.

"Um… er… do you have any idea who might be out to get him?" Li asked, since I was incapable at that moment to.

"Like I said, I have no shitting idea on who was after him."

"If there's anything else, please call us." Li said as we began to walk away before the drug dealers could spot us.

"You promise not to arrest me?" Aya asked.

"We won't, can't say the same for the other officers," Li replied with a small grin.

We went back to my car, ignoring the look from other girls on other corners and the drug dealers. I started the engine up and pulled out of the area. "Were to all fearless leader?" I asked as we drove out of the area.

Li opened the folder and looked at some of the papers concerning the investigation. "We need to have a look at Uo's place, see if there's anything else there." He relayed the address to me, not exactly caring if I knew where the guy used to live or not. Oh well, its his own fault that we spent the next two hours searching for the place. Turns out that it was just on the outskirts of the downtown area, go figure. The apartments there are for low-income families, which are why there's so much violence, graffiti, druggies and other types of people I'd rather not mention living there.

I stopped outside of an apartment that looked just as run down as the other's surrounding it. We got out of the Volvo for the umpteenth time that day. Old men sat on the stoop, smoking their life savings on cigarettes and other drugs.

I followed Li up the graffiti painted staircases. I could hear TVs being played over arguments between husbands and wives. I could hear children crying while their parents hit them. I could hear noises that adults make only at night and generally in bed. I could hear the cussing between siblings. It was at this point of time that I'm glad that I grew up the way I did and that I didn't have to go through any of this.

We stopped outside of an apartment that was the yellow police tape stretched across the frame. We went underneath it and began our investigation. We couldn't find much (although, I did find out what the weird smell was…) except for a small leather-bound notebook that has seen better days, underneath a table. A majestic lion was on the cover and in gold letterings, the words; "The Book of Clow" was stretched across it. I tried to open it, only to find it locked. On the back was a crescent moon that seemed to be enveloped in angel wings.

I showed Li the notebook, he said that we'd give it to the locksmith tomorrow and see if he can open it.

We left after that, making sure to lock the place so that thieves couldn't steal from it.

"So," I said after we got into my "sissy tank" car. "Can I go home now?"

"Nope, we need to go talk to families of the other murder vics." He replied.

I sighed. If I wanted to, I could probably just kick him out of the car and drive off, cackling madly as I go off into the sunset. However, I know that he'll just get mad at me and shot at me and later calling it "friendly fire" as we're in court, me suing him and him trying to defend his worthless ass.

The rest of the day, we talked to the families and friends, which turned out to be similar to what happened to Aya. They would know that someone was out for the victim, but they didn't know who, nor why. It was about six when we left the last residence, running away from the dog that guarded the trailer park.

We hopped into the car and breathed a sigh of relieve as the huge Doberman barked outside of the car. "He'd better not get scratches on my car." I growled as the engine started up.

I pulled out of the trailer park just as the sun was setting. "If we have to visit any more people, I will not be held responsible for any actions that I may take." I could tell that he was grinning as he replied, "Then I won't hold you to it."

Jeez.

I dropped him off at the station, knowing that he has his motorcycle in the parking lot. When we left that morning he wanted to take the motorcycle instead of my Volvo, but I instantly nixed on the account of… well… I like my car better. I knew that was a lousy excuse, but, hey, when in Rome…

It was about eight when I reached my own house. My house is an old fashioned one. When I first bought it, I had to re-wire the whole place, replace the plumbing, facilities, and some of the framework. I gotten it about two years ago and I didn't move in until last spring. The house was located in the older part of the city, where yards are primly cut and kept neat and the actual houses are one story and take up most of the yard. The houses were also ones that stay with the family and are inherited by the eldest sibling. It was by chance that I had found this place. I was searching for a criminal, went through the neighborhood, and spotted the 'For Sale' sign, and the rest is boring history of me signing papers.

I entered through the front door, turning on the lights as I went along. "Hi Kero, Hi Yue!" I called out to my two pets. Yue is a white rabbit with pale purple eyes, something that I fell in love in when I first laid eyes on him. Kero is my somewhat obese orange tabby cat that would prefer to eat than chase birds, much like _Garfield_.

Kero came bounding in with hopeful eyes. I knew that he wanted something to eat, apparently, when I enter the door and say hi to them, he thinks that I saying dinnertime. I obliged to his unspoken question in the kitchen. I gave Yue some rabbit food as Kero ate greedily at his food. Oh, how much I love my roomies, I thought as I watched them eat.

I grew bored watching them after awhile. I went to my room to change into a t-shirt and flannel pajama bottoms. I came back downstairs and after making me some Ramen, I turned the TV on to watch the American show _CSI: Crime Scene Investigation_. It's one of my favorite crime shows, that and _Monk_, the one with the ex-cop who has a fear of everything and works as a private detective. I liked to guess who did it and how and why, but generally I turn out to be wrong, making me wonder why I'm a cop in the first place.

I watched TV well past midnight and the sign to go to bed was the loud yawn I emitted. I went to my room after turning appliances off, making sure that Yue was comfortable and that Kero wouldn't get into any of the food. I dreamed peacefully that night.

…………………………

I got up at the sound of Kero scratching at my door the next morning. I peeked at the clock not wanting to know what the time was. It shot out '7:37' with neon red lights making me want to blast the stupid piece of crap. I groggily got up with much protest from my body. "That's the last time that I stay up that late." Of course, that's a lie, I say that every morning, but nothing ever changes.

I got dressed in my usual loose fitting jeans and a t-shirt, and did my morning rituals.

I bounded down the stairs and was somewhat startled at the fact that Li is currently sitting in my kitchen with Kero hissing for all he's worth (it's not much) at the he-devil.

"Why the heck are you here?"

"Is that how you treat a person with doughnuts?" I didn't even notice the _Dunkin' Donuts_ sitting on my table next to his arm. He fights dirtier than I do.

"What do you want me to say? Oh thank you for the doughnuts, I'm eternally grateful for you and will become your personal sex slave for the rest of my life." I replied sarcastically.

"Really?"

"Not in this lifetime." I gave him my best glare, but it seemed to roll off of him. "Why are you here? And how did you get in for that fact and matter?"

He smirked in his usual cockiness way. "You know, most people put their spare key underneath the welcome mat, next time, try hiding it in a more… strategic location."

I said some colorful words at him, making Li grin even more. "Why are you here?"

"You weren't in, so I figured that you were sleeping in and I came to visit."

I rolled my eyes, such a jerk. "I don't go in until nine, everyone knows that."

He tisked. "But that was when you were the filing person, now you are my partner and I expect punctuality from my partners."

I wanted to groan. Leave it to the same guy who got drunk at last year's police ball and did dirty dance moves in front of the whole station, to tell me about my being late. "But, it's too early for me," I said going for the sympathy vote. "I stayed up late working and couldn't get to sleep very easy."

"Lair."

Crap. How'd he figure me out? He's good, real good. I'll just have to play dirty…

"If you don't let me sleep in, then I'm going to call up my brother and tell him that you kissed me without my permission." Toya, my older brother, has some kind of a 'sister complex' when it comes to me. When we were younger and I was still living with my family, he would tease me without any mercy and scared away any guys that would even try to get within ten feet of me (with the exception of close relatives and friends that he deems worthy of "being in my presence"). Li had the pleasure of meeting my older brother when he came in one day to say "hi" to me (and tease me along the way). He noticed that Li was making fun of me (apparently something that only Toya is allowed to do) and decided to make his life a living nightmare. At first, it was playing with his mind, and then it was doing physical harm. Therefore, at every mention of my brother's name, Li tends to be come "jumpy", kinda like now…

He seemed to be shuddering, as if recalling a scary horror movie. "Fine you win, but only for tomorrow, after that, you have to be at the station by seven."

"But that's too early," I whined. I really do need my beauty sleep, although, it doesn't help much for my looks…

"Shut up and have some doughnuts."

I glared at him as I took a glazed from the box and ate it. "That's lovely," Li commented as he watched me eat the sweet morsel whole.

I stuck my tongue at him, to which he called me a child.

"So, what's on the agenda today?" I asked after the box was empty of its wonderful treasures. "We need to go to the locksmith to see what's in the notebook, hopefully something that deals with the murders and not some book that talks about the different positions." I blushed and coughed loudly at the last comment.

"When are we going?"

"Now."

………………………

It took the locksmith roughly three hours to mold a key for the lock. While he was doing that, Li and me were bored out of our minds and ended up playing stupid and childish games, such as "I Spy", "Concentration", and "See Who Can…" We got a lot of stares from other customers; probably wishing they could play with us… When the locksmith finally came out to give us the key, I had just beaten Li at another fun game of "Concentration."

He showed us the key. It was small and only had two prongs jointing out from the circular thingy. I grew bored of looking at it, so I went over to a rack that has some trinkets and stuff that you can put at the end of the key. I picked out a trinket that looked like a goggled goose with its wings jointing out of its head. I showed it to Li, whom was at the register paying for the key, and begged and pleaded for him to get it. He finally relented after I had gotten on my knees and begged like the desperate woman that I am.

I hummed happily as we left the locksmith. Li was behind me, most likely wondering how he got suckered into buying the little trinket thing. We got into the Volvo and went to the station. The station is located just outside of the downtown area since that's were most of the crimes are committed. It's a three-floor building that used to have a white paint job before the smog from cars turned it to a light brown. The windows on the ground floor are barricaded and the security isn't all that great, but hey, what do expect with a building filled with cops. Next to, the building is the jailhouse where the criminals go after trial or is waiting for trial.

The usual noises of the station are what greeted us as we entered the building. People were running around with folders, screaming at the top of their lungs so that they can be heard. Police officers brought in cursing criminals wanting their lawyers and what not. Mothers were waiting at benches so that they can talk to someone about a lost child. Fathers made promises to their sons of horrible punishments for doing stuff that were stupid and landed them in jail or juvie.

We went into Li's office since we went in my car and his office has better soundproof than mine.

I sat myself on one side of the desk and Li went on the other side. He produced (taking that figuratively) the little red book with the weird lock. I pulled out the key that we had just gotten and inserted it into the hole. Unconsciously, I held my breath as I twisted the metal and heard the click sound.

"Nervous?" Li asked in his usual mocking manner.

"Me? No way."

I lifted the cover only to find it filled with tarot cards. I picked one up and read it. "The Windy?" I raised an eyebrow as I lifted the stack from its place. I began to shuffle through them and nearly gasped when I found a card that one of the victims had tattooed on his back. "Look at this," I said as I handed the stack to Li. He looked through them in the same manner as I did.

That was when I realized something. "Damn it, that was circumstantial evidence and we got our finger prints all over it."

Li looked down at the cards in his hands. "Oh well, besides if Homicide thought it was important, they would've grabbed it." I did one of my customary eye rolls. That was one of his favorite sayings, "finders keepers, and losers weepers."

"So, what are we going to do now?"

"We need to check the computers to see if maybe this is related to the Internet and chat rooms. Then maybe some cults."

"Cults?"

"Cults."

………………………….

When I was younger, I was the gullible person of the family. My brother would tell me ghost stories and I would actually believe them, making me one very paranoid child, for example if someone where to tell me that the bathroom in one of the restaurants were haunted, I wouldn't go in and would hold in my pee until I go home. It wasn't till recently when my brother told me the truth about the bathroom and he paid dearly for it.

So, here I am now, sitting in a dark room full of morons talking about how "we're being visited by aliens" and that they could by anything, even a tampon… Unfortunately, for me, I'm starting to believe them, making Li laugh at me.

"It's believable," was my defense as the leader of the cult talked about caring for the aliens.

"That makes you a very gullible person."

"Does not," I muttered back in a defensive sort of way, I absolutely hate being told that I'm gullible mostly because I'm in denial and I tend to think that I'm not that stupid.

"The aliens will be the ones to save us from our own destruction," the leader of the cult said in a weird manner.

"Really?" I asked aloud, earning not only a weird look from Li, but from other members as well. Okay, so maybe I was gullible, so sue me, please, just sue me, and while you're at it, shoot me in the head.

Once the meeting was done, Li and me went up to the leader of the cult to ask him some questions.

Li got the cards out of his leather jacket pocket and showed it to the leader. "Have you ever seen these before?" He asked in a hopeful sort of way as the man looked through the stack.

We were disappointed when the man shook his head and handed the stack back to us. He suggested that we go and visit some of the psychics and gave us some names.

Li grinned as we left the building filled with spacey type objects. "Here's another chance for you to prove that you're not gullible, my dear Kinomoto." I wanted to strangle him, that jerk face.

"One of these days," I hissed through my teeth. "I will get my revenge on you, not to day, not even tomorrow, but I will get you one of these days."

His grin got, impossibly, bigger and he patted the top of my head. "Isn't that cute, the Kinomoto giving me a threat, I hope that she doesn't hurt me too bad."

Damn him.

We went to the park where most of the psychics have booths set up since that's were people tend to go on a beautiful day, such as this one. We looked around for a tent that didn't have a very long line, or none at all. It took a few moments, but we found it, near the woods where several people had gone missing or was killed. It scared me a bit, but I didn't let Li know that I was scared. No siree, would I ever allow him the pleasure of seeing me scared…

Incense hit our noses as we entered the dark purple tent; it was very strong and over powering and made me wish that I had allergies so that I could use them as an excuse to leave. Unfortunately, I don't, so I had to bear with it against my will.

A woman sat in the middle of the tent, clad in a gypsy get up and a crystal ball sitting in front of her. Candles were lit around her, breaking several fire safety codes. Her black hair was covered up in a scarf with several small braids falling out of it. Her golden hoop earrings reflected the light off of the candles, giving her a surreal look, like an elf or something. Her skin had an olive tone to it and contrasted perfectly with the black hair. All in all, she reminded me of a real gypsy.

"You have a question, yes?" Defiantly not question, more along the lines of a… statement.

Li nodded his head as he pulled out the cards from his jacket (I really want his jacket, maybe that'll be my revenge…) and handed them to her. "Have you ever seen these before?" He asked with a determined look in his amber eyes.

"Madame Lore sees all," she replied in a perfectly clichéd manner upon giving the cards back after inspecting them. "Yes, I have," she replied in a sad way, seeing the look on Li's face. "It's a type of divination that was a mix of Western and Eastern fortune telling. It hasn't been used in years."

Finally, now we're getting somewhere.

"Can you tell us what the name of is called?" I asked wanting to seem like I can ask the right questions too.

"They are the 'Clow Cards' named after their creator, Clow Reed. That is all I can tell you."

"Thank you," Li said as he made a move to leave the tent.

"Wait!" The gypsy called out. "Let me tell this young lady her fortune before you leave." Even if the fortune isn't true, I still like having mine done, so I hurriedly agreed. Li said "whatever" and left the tent to wait outside.

I sat from across the lady, waiting for her to begin. She pulled out her own deck of tarot cards and shuffled them. She picked cards one by one and placed them down on the table in some sort of a design, all the while muttering some chant. The gypsy turned over the first one. "Be careful, people who may seem friendly are in fact the enemy." I wondered if she was talking about Li. Man, I hope so.

She turned over another. "There's impending doom ahead of you." Is this lady on crack?

Another was turned over. "You need to start trusting better, because if you don't, the person you aren't trusting will get hurt." What a load of bull.

Another one. "Someone close to you will be in mortal danger." Yeah right, not while I'm working.

The last one. The gypsy smiled lightly as she looked at it. "You're mother wants you to know that she's watching over you." What kind of… wait a moment… how'd she know about my Mom?

I left the tent, shielding my eyes from the sudden brightness of the sun. I couldn't see Li anywhere and I began to panic, maybe the serial rapist living in the woods took him or maybe he got kid napped. Sure I normally hate him and make threats on a constant bases, that doesn't mean that I want him dead. I could feel tears start to prick at the back of my eyes. "Why must the world be so cruel?"

"Does this mean that you're gonna die in the next few hours, allowing the rest of us to lead our lives in peace?" Li's voice asked from behind me, scaring the shit out of me.

"You jerk!" I cried out as I ran over to Li to hug him, despite the fact that he is my mortal enemy and rival. "I thought that someone took you into the forest or worst, the government took you away because they found out about something and they want to blackmail you so that you have to work for them." My imagination can get wild when I'm emotional.

Li smirked; I could feel it through his chest (which I let go immediately after realizing what I had just done). "Aw, you were scared for me. I don't deserve this at all." He pretended to wipe away a tear.

That's when I noticed the two hotdogs in his hands. He only went to go get hotdogs. I just wasted a perfectly good hug on him and a whole lot of worry. I'll kill him.

"Wow, you're eye is twitching."

"Lemme alone!" I cried defensively. He grinned and handed me a hotdog saying that it was an apology for making me worry over nothing. I grudgingly accepted it.

We left the park after that, heading over to his flat since his computer is faster and better than mine, plus his apartment is closer then my house is.

His apartment is the cleanest that I have ever seen, especially considering the fact that he's a single 20 some-year-old male. It has wooden floors all through out the place, which is nice since it doesn't stain nearly as bad as carpet does. His kitchen and dinning room are one room and is right next to the living room. Off to the side, past the kitchen is a hallway with three doors. The bathroom and the closet on one side of the hall and across the hall is his bedroom (he had just given me the tour). He doesn't have much personal affects except the odd picture or two hanging on the wall.

Li got his laptop from his bedroom and set it up on the kitchen table. While it was booting up, he made tea for the both of us. I was surprised at the fact that he drinks tea; he looks more like a coffee drinker to me, go figure…

Now that we know the name of the cards, Li suggested that we should look up on the Internet to see if there was anything about them, which is the reason why I'm here, not because I want to be here or anything.

Li got the Internet started and immediately went to a search engine. He typed in "Clow Reed" and waited for the results. After a moment of waiting, the results popped up onto the screen. He clicked on one that seemed promising.

It wasn't' all that promising.

Unless you think, that porn is promising.

Li instantly clicked out of the sight, blushing heavily. He shook his head, as if trying to rid himself of the images. Whereas me, I'm going to be scarred for the rest of my life because of that one website. I began to shudder.

After that last incident, I began to backseat surf, telling him where to click and what to type. He seemed to get frustrated by it because after awhile he began to ignore me. That made me feel insulted and I was about ready to bite his head off, when he suddenly his eyes brightened and he smiled gleefully. That was something that I have never seen before, normally when he smiles, it's either a smirk or a grin, not a true smile. I didn't even realize that I was staring until he turned to me and smirked. "Just say it," he said. "You are secretly, madly in love with me."

"Go. To. Hell." I gritted through my teeth.

"No thanks," He replied.

I turned my attention to the computer screen. The pictures of the cards where all over the screen, filling up most of the space. Li scrolled down until we came upon a picture of a man with long dark hair and glasses. The man looked to be a mix of English and Chinese decent, his robes enunciated his Chinese side, and the glasses and cane enunciated his English.

"'Clow Reed'," Li began to read. "'Is famous for the creation of the Clow Cards, which are said to give 100 accurate readings when are used properly in predictions. Little else is known about this man. The Cards are currently in possession of Hiirigizawa Eriol, one of his descendents.'"

"Does this mean that we have to talk to Mr. Hiirigizawa now?" I asked, exasperated. I was getting tired; we opened the book, visit several cults, visited a psychic, and looked up info on the Internet. That's way too much for me in one day, and I had voiced this to Li, the most sadistic person in the history of the world (although, he's not as bad as the chief).

He looked at the clock hanging on the wall just above the kitchen window. "Let's do one more thing before you go."

"What's that?" I asked, slightly curious.

He moved the cursor to a link. "It says that if we go here, we can join in the game that is based off of the cards. Maybe if we join in, we'll be able to learn something else," he explained. It seemed logical and so I agreed to his proposal.

The site that the link leads to only said that there were three spots left. He instantly added our name to the list. A screen popped in front, saying that we'll receive more info by e-mail.

I left after that, heading home, whilst picking up a cheeseburger along the way. I didn't care if I was losing my figure at that point of time, I was tired, I was hungry, and the McDonald's was there.

I entered my house at that time and was instantly attacked by my obese cat, meowing and rubbing against my legs as if he had been starving the whole time. I ignored him, I knew better, he probably ate something he shouldn't have and was putting on an innocent front. I fed Yue instead, he's a good pet and would never dream of doing anything like Kero would, Yue's too calm and quiet to be bad. Of course, I shouldn't really compare the two; they both have attributes that I found attractive when I got them. Kero and his laziness and Yue for his eyes, I like them both. Sighing and apologizing to my cat, I fed Kero.

The rest of the night was spent me cleaning up the house a bit and eating some ice cream whilst watching some TV drama that made me cry, a lot. I'm always a sucker for sad movies, like the ones that strike that certain cord in your heart that makes you cry uncontrollable, which in turn, earns you a look from people who enter the room without seeing the movie and start asking if someone died in the family. That type of movie…

It was once again late when I went to bed. I think I had a dream about a flying Kero eating pudding and what Yue would look like if he were human, he was also eating pudding, although, he wasn't as messy about it as Kero was.

The next morning I woke up early, in a sense that I hardly ever get up earlier then eight. My back was sore as heck and it felt like someone put needles into it, repeatedly. Not only that, but I was in an uncomfortable position, I was on my stomach with my butt up in the air, my the hem of my t-shirt was pooled around my scapulas, leaving my back susceptible to any attacks by Kero.

I groggily got out of bed and headed to the bathroom, rubbing my head along the way. I stared into the mirror once I reached my destination down the hallway. I'm petite in size and I have a rather flat chest, my green eyes are large and expressive (something that was passed down from my mother). On the other hand, I received my father's hair and right now, it's a wreck, which is one of the deciding factors of me taking a shower.

As I pulled my t-shirt over my head, I noticed something on my lower back. I grabbed a hand mirror so that I can see my back better by using it to see the larger mirror.

There was a tattoo on my back.

And it wasn't just any tattoo…

It was a tattoo of one of the Clow Cards.

The Flowery.

I nearly screamed out in fright as I ran around my house, trying to figure out how they got into my home. None of the windows were broken, which lead me to believe that they used the spare key underneath the matt outside my back door, which proved the point Li made only two days before. I also noticed a rag that I don't own laying on the counter top. I looked at it, sniffed it, and began to get drowsy, at that time I realized that it was filled with one of those chemicals that make you go to sleep.

I began to feel sweat starting to form at the back of my neck. What if someone did something horrible to me the night before and tattooed me for future reference? Totally forgetting any police skills that I learned while at the Academy, I called Li up and told him about the tattoo. He replied that he would be coming over and hung up.

I blinked lightly as I picked a worried Kero up and took Yue out of his cage. I took the both of them to the living room where I sat down on the couch and began to pet the both of them, totally at a lost on what to do about the whole entire situation.

Li entered my house about ten minutes later. He gave me a weird look, for I was just staring at nothing, except for that spot on the wall… I'll have to take of it later…

I began to tell him what happened, all in one big rush. He had to, several times, tell me to slow down so that he could understand. When all was said and done, Li had gained a pensive look on his face.

"Are you sure that you weren't drunk?" He asked. That jerk face, he still doesn't believe me. Therefore, I changed the subject. "Did you check your e-mail for whatever it is you signed us up for?"

Li shook his head.

I sighed. "Let's go check mine then," I suggested, knowing full well that he added my name to the list. I went to the small office that was located in the hidden hallway behind the living room wall. My monster of a computer sat on the desk, shinning as if it were the most innocent thing in the world. I fight with the stupid thing every time I use it and it was a miracle for it to actually get to the Internet login screen.

Li stood over my shoulder as I opened up my mailbox. There was a lot of spam and I just deleted those. The last thing left was e-mail with the subject line containing "To Card Captor Sakura", if that wasn't foreboding, then I don't know what is. I clicked on it.

Instantly, a letter popped onto the screen. It reads as follows:

"_To the newest Card Captor, Sakura, _

"_Your duty is to capture other members' Clow Cards, by any means necessary, even if you have to kill that person to get it. Each person has a card tattooed on his or her back that corresponds to his or her card. Once you have the card in your hands, you are also allowed to take any other cards that the person might have. The cards will go into a book that you will have to find on your own time. Once all that cards are collected, you will have to face off with me, Clow Reed and I have to be dead in order for you to win._

_The prize is, of course, your survival of the game, all pardons from any laws that you may break during the duration of the game, and a one million cash prize. Please remember that I will be playing also and as such, I'm very skilled at this game, and there are other players, so time is of essences in this game. _

_Your card can be found in a place most gravely important to you._

_Things may seem difficult at times, but I'm sure you'll be all right…_

"Clow Reed" 

I wanted to throw up after reading the note. Not only does it pit people against each other, the rewards are appealing to three different types of people, the "save my ass" type, the "I get to kill all I want and I won't go to jail" type and finally the "wow, I'm going to be rich enough to buy more drugs to replenish my stash" type. It's sickening, and I never thought that I would be part of this thing.

"You signed yourself up too, right?" I asked Li, who had taken a seat in another chair in the room.

He nodded and got my drift. Li stood up and headed to the bathroom, with me following behind. Upon arrival, he lifted his shirt up and turned his back to the mirror. My breath hitched at seeing his abs, all nice and hard, like a table or something. He must have caught me staring, because he frowned and asked, "Is there anything on my back?"

I blinked before remembering why I was there in the first place. I laughed nervously before turning my eyes to the mirror and saw a Clow Card tattooed onto his back. "Yep," I replied. "Congratulations, you received the 'Sword Card'. Now, all we have to do is find it."

Li grunted in response as he pulled his shirt back down, shutting off my view of his abs. "When I go home, I'll go look for it."

"While you're still here, should we look to see if we could find Hiirigizawa?"

"Yeah."

I closed the sick letter out and went to a search engine typing in Hiirigizawa's name. The results flowed in at a slow pace (probably be faster if I had a better computer). We found one that seemed to be his biography and clicked on it. After searching around the site for a few moments, we found a phone number and wrote it down.

Li left with a promise to call Hiirigizawa and make a meeting with him.

I, on the other hand, decided to go look for my card. The clue that was given in the e-mail was blatantly obvious and this meant that I would have to go on a road trip to my hometown of Tomoeda where my mother was buried. It's only a few hours from my house so I'll probably end up spending the night over at my dad's. I called Tomoyo to ask her to take care of my pets while I'm gone.

After saying 'bye' to my pets and promising Kero a treat from my dad, I got into my Volvo and drove five long and boring hours, stopping once in awhile to pee and stretch my legs. I called my dad and told him that I was visiting for the night, to which he said that he'd get my room prepared.

The rest of the ride was uneventful, except for at that one exit where I had nearly caused a 200-car pile-up and was given the birdie over 10 times, courtesy of the other "kind" drivers of the road. It's not my fault that I couldn't see that truck. They should create something so that you can see them better, like a mirror of some sort.

It was around noon when I had finally arrived at my dad's house. The house was yellow and was two stories, and like much of Tomoeda, it hasn't changed one bit. Although, the trees have gotten a little bit bigger then when I had last saw them. I grabbed my small bag of stuffs, took in a deep breath of Tomoeda air, and went to the front door.

I knocked.

The door opened.

My jaw dropped to the ground.

Toya smirked. "Didn't think that I would visit too? Did you, monster?"

I wanted to kick him. It's been… years since I was a kid and he has yet to let up on the "monster" thing. "I'm not a monster." That phrase is like a reflex now.

"Whatever," Toya scooted away from the door so that I could get into the house.

"Why are you here?" I asked as I took my shoes off and donned slippers.

"Dad had an accident and I came over to help him out until he heals," my brother replied as he took my bag from me, carrying it to my old room. When he came back down, I ganged up on him.

"What happened to dad?"

Toya shrugged. "Nothing major, he just tripped down the stairs and managed to twist an ankle."

I could fell a vein throbbing. "And I'm just learning about this now? If I had known that he had an accident, I would've stayed at a hotel instead of bothering him."

Dad entered the room at that time, using a crutch as support. "You're no bother, I hardly see you anyway, besides, you're brother is helping out." I walked over to him and hugged him as best as I could with his crutch in the way.

"By the way, lunch is ready," Toya announced as he went to the kitchen. Dad and I followed him. Toya all ready had everything set, so all we had to do was eat.

Got to say, the food was good (as per usual), not that I'm going to tell him that.

The desert that Dad made was even better.

Makes me want to move back here so that I can eat Dad's deserts all the time.

Sigh.

After doing dishes as payment for the lunch and allowing me to spend the night, I told my brother and dad that I was going to say "hi" to Mom and left.

I decided to not take my car for two reasons. One, it wasn't all that far from the house and I'm a somewhat concerned person about the rate of the hole in the o-zone and two, I'm tired of driving. In addition, I wanted too see how much of Tomoeda has changed since I have last been here.

I walked along the road, waving to people that I knew from back when I was a child and talking to other people. As I walked through the heart of Tomoeda, I stopped at a vendor and got myself some ice cream, despite just having desert, and finished it by the time I got to my mother's grave.

One thing was for sure; the town I grew up in hadn't changed a bit, aside from the extra houses that weren't there before. Its like Tomoeda is one of those places that are eternal, never changing, and not touched by corruption and evil.

I instantly spotted the card and before I picked it up, I paid my respects and had a small conversation to my mother (mostly one-sided though) talking about whatever popped into my head. I missed her greatly. Growing up, I had placed females that were close to the family as my mother figures, wanting a woman's opinion on guys, clothes, and someone to talk to when puberty finally came around. When I did these things, I would sometimes spot a small pain in my father's eyes as he watched me, as if he regretted her death. Now that I thought about it, I was being selfish, and because of that, I must've hurt my Dad deeply.

Now that I'm older and wiser, all I need to know is that my Mom is watching me from above, making sure that I don't get into too much trouble.

I grabbed the pink card with the girl holding flowers and the corkscrew ponytails giving her a look of playfulness. I wonder why I received this card, the only thing that I could think of was the fact that my name is a namesake of a flower's. Oh well, it doesn't matter.

As I was stared to get up from my crouching position, something told me that someone with a hidden vendetta against me, was hiding in the bushes. I silently and slowly crept behind my mother's stone and subconsciously put my hand on the gun resting in its holster. I learned to always carry a gun with you about three years ago when I had accidentally started a shoot out at a convenient store just because I had asked the cashier to "kiss my ass" after she overcharged me on accident. How the heck was I suppose to know that she was probation and was taking anger management classes, it's a mistake that anyone could've make…

The person hiding in the bushes finally showed himself, looking around as if wondering were his prey had gone, not exactly knowing that the roles had just reversed.

I could tell that he was another junkie, just like Uo, Aya's druggy friend. Although, he looked like to be on one of those stimulants, his eyes were nervously moving side to side, he was pale and very thin looking. His hair was a wreck, as was his clothes, both of which looked like they haven't been cleaned in awhile. He was thin and lanky and in his hand was a gun. I doubted that he even had a permit for the thing.

He must've spotted me, for in the next few moments, gunshots could be heard through out the graveyard. My poor mother, she took the brunt of the attack, protecting me. I'll have to make sure to fix it up later with the little bit I earn from being an officer.

I did the only thing that I could. I returned fire. On the first try, I completely missed. On the second, I got closer. On the third try, bless it; I managed to get him in his shoulder and just about a few inches above the heart. He went into a momentary shock, were I managed to wrangle him down so that he's facing the ground with my knee in his back and one of my hands holding his arms together while the other was calling the police, which is ironic if you think about it.

My joints were aching by the time the police arrived. Before they took him away, I grabbed the card that I had seen poking out of his pocket, which was lucky since he could've hidden it somewhere else.

By the time I got home, all I wanted was a bath, a nice, long, warm one. However, fate is cruel to me for I was greeted with the sight of my idiot partner and brother glaring at each other and my Dad sitting next to them, smiling as if he didn't notice the fight going on between the two of them.

"What the heck are you doing here?" I asked, slightly (or more so) furious at the fact that he followed me all the way here.

He smirked as he took in my form. "Are you okay? I heard about it over the waves." Yeah right, he was probably stalking me and just happened to hear about it…

Toya, the most annoying brother ever, glared at Li and gave me a look of concern. "What happened?" That's a good thing, he doesn't know about it, yet.

"Nothing," I said quickly, and judging by the "yeah right" look on his face, I might've said it too quickly. I backed away slowly, not wanting to be interrogated any farther. "You know what, I'm going to go out for awhile more." Far, far away, that's my plan.

I left the house filled with crazy people and went to my old haunts from when I was back in elementary school, which is the Penguin Park where there's a huge slide shaped as a Penguin and the slide is its bottom beak. I sat down on a bench next to a couple making out for the world to see. Some would think of it as romantic, others will think that they have no shame and should be condemned. Me, I'm indifferent. They could be pulling out bazookas and blasting each other for all I care.

Someone sat down next to me. I knew who it was and I know that he's gonna start ask questions about earlier this afternoon. "Good news, I got another card to add to our collection."

Li sighed deeply as he leaned into the back of the bench. "You know what, I don't give a shit about that. You're life was in danger and I wasn't there to protect you." So chivalry isn't dead, or at least not all the way in this particular person.

"I was fine," I replied, looking towards the kids playing on the playground in front of us.

"That's not the point…" He trailed off. There's something else that I'm not getting and something that's going to take a lot of work to pry out of his stubborn body.

"Whatever," I mumbled. We didn't say anything else after that, just looking ahead as the sun started to sink and glare into our eyes.

It was evening when the cool that comes with the night started to affect me. Shivering, I stood up and offered Li a place to the stay the night since it's all ready late and it would be even later when he would get home. He reluctantly agreed, none to enthusiastic at the prospect of staying under the same roof as my brother, even if it's for the night.

We arrived to my childhood home. My Dad welcomed Li with open arms, whereas Toya glared and left the room to go set the guestroom up. I went upstairs and took my rather short shower. As I left the steamed up room, wearing a t-shirt and my flannel pajamas, I sore I could've heard cursing and ranting coming from the guestroom. Thinking nothing much of it, since I know whom it is, I went downstairs, following the aroma of dinner being made.

I was surprised to see Li doing the cooking and my Dad just watching him move around. The even bigger surprise was seeing Li wearing my old pink, frilly apron. I laughed, hard.

"What?" He asked in a way that suggested that if I told anyone, there would be horrible consequences to pay.

I grinned. "Are you sure that you're not a girl?"

The small blade in his hand flashed dangerously. He pointed it towards me in a threatening manner and said nothing, which spoke many things to me. I quieted down and sat next to my Dad, the both of us now watching him move around expertly.

End Part One

Authoress's Notie:

Not much to say, sorry for the grammar and spelling. Also I swear I have been trying to work on my other two stories, its just that this story has been taking away all my creative juices, which is the other reason why I'm putting this up in parts. I was originally going to put this up yesterday as commemoration for putting up my 1st chapter of my 1st story one year ago (that being Mar. 19, 2004), however, due to mom using the computer for most of the afternoon and me going to a friend's house, it made it all rather impossible.

Please review, or not…

The Can-Can group 


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